Selling the Philippines

By ABIGAIL VALTE

June 20, 2017

ACCORDING to the Philippine Statistics Authority, tourism contributed 8.6% to the total gross domestic product in 2016, roughly amounting to P1.234 billion. It has risen steadily since 2011, where it started at 6.8% and ended at 8.6% in 2015. Employment in tourism characteristic industries has also been enjoying an uptick, with 2016 figures estimated to be at around 5.2 million, accounting for 12.8% of the total employment in the country.

With these figures, it’s no wonder that selling the Philippines as a viable tourist destination is imperative to growing an economy. And this task falls not only on the Department of Tourism but also on other departments that have jurisdiction over factors that affect a tourist’s overall experience when they visit: peace and order, access to health facilities, transportation, and easy access to tourist spots and facilities. Whether we like it or not, citizens also play a substantial role in attracting tourists to the country; in the same way that we rely on foreign friends to give us recommendations and tips when it comes to visiting their home countries, tourists are more encouraged to visit when they see the enthusiasm of their Filipino friends about their homeland.

Conversely, it is we the people who suffer, both directly and indirectly, when our country gets a bad rap internationally. Sure, the occasional side eye you get from your foreign friends and colleagues over unbelievable or bad news from home can’t exactly be categorized as suffering, but certainly, losing a job because the tourism industry is taking a hit certainly will hurt.

The Department of Tourism knows this well, which is why it was quick to throw its new partner agency under the proverbial bus after its new TVC “Sights” was found to be distressingly similar to an existing campaign all the way from South Africa. DOT is already smarting from the travel advisories issued by the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries due to security-related issues such as the presence of the Abu Sayaff Group in Bohol and the declaration of martial law in Mindanao. Add to that the recent incident over at Resorts World, and you have a perfect storm of sorts for the folks over at DOT, who must all be tearing their hair out over convincing tourists to visit in such a state of affairs.

Soon after its launch, netizens where quick to point out that its tagline, “Experience Philippines,” had already been used in other campaigns, most notably by India’s “Experience Bengal” campaign. Enterprising citizens were also quick to draw comparisons scene by scene of “Sights” to the South African TVC, which both contain an interesting twist: the storyteller is seen from the view point of a blind person. Both seek to sell an intangible: that warm, fuzzy feeling you get from visiting a place that makes you feel right at home, despite being thousands of miles away.

Now, for the bad part. DOT’s quick and public severing of its relationship with McCann Worldwide, the agency that executed the TVC, is certain to give pause to reputable agencies out there who may be thinking of offering its services to help government. To begin with, government’s procurement process is like going through the eye of a needle. It is painful, slow, and filled with bureaucratic twists and turns unfathomable to those in the private sector. Getting paid is also an issue when it comes to dealing with government. I haven’t seen the contract that DOT signed with McCann, but for their sake, I hope it contains a clause for progress or partial payments for any work performed.

The procurement process is a common complaint among businessmen, and the recent fallout from this incident won’t help move that observation in the right direction. Those more familiar with the creative and production processes in the advertising industry would know that McCann is not entirely to blame for the blow-up, considering that a client is involved in every step of the way, beginning from the approval of the creative brief to approving the final launch of the campaign. DOT’s statement on the issue certainly puts the blame entirely on McCann, with matching veiled threats about pursuing accountability.

They would have us believe that one of the biggest advertising outfits in the country went rogue on the project. Either this is true or that whoever was in charge over at DOT completely neglected their duty in implementing a P650 million contract. You’d think that the new blood at DOT would have been mindful of past copycat issues raised against previous campaigns, but their behavior reveals that it had no impact whatsoever in terms of doing their due diligence for the project. Sure, while we can’t expect the DOT team to be aware of each and every tourism campaign launched all over the world, diligence dictates that they must have, at the very least, instructed the McCann team to do a check after they had signed off on the concept, even before the production of the TVC.

I am hoping against hope that this incident doesn’t discourage other brilliant talent to work with government. Because if that happens, it is ultimately the Filipino people that will be getting the short end of the stick (again) when all that government will be left to work with are those who are after the pay check, backed by mediocre or worse, shady talent.

But it’s not all bad, thankfully. People have stepped up to the plate, with crowdsourced material sprouting from every corner of the internet, most notably the one from @CreativesofMNL on Twitter and Nas Daily on Facebook. If DOT team does not get its act together, I’m betting Filipinos will again take it upon themselves to contribute in their own ways to keep visitors coming. That despite all the chaos that is happening, we Filipinos love to laugh, love to eat, and that we love to show visitors why we all still love the Philippines, warts and all.

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